Saint-Gobain employees in the UK and Ireland have raised £91,935 for their new charity partners, Macmillan Cancer Support and the Irish Cancer Society and are helping to raise awareness of the condition among their colleagues, customers and suppliers.

The impressive efforts of the employees has not only helped to fund many hours of nursing care for people living with cancer, but has also highlighted the support and services available for people affected by cancer and their friends and family.

In just over two months, employees have taken part in a whole host of fundraising activities held at Saint-Gobain sites across the UK and Ireland, including a sponsored leg wax, fancy dress days and bake sales.

Saint-Gobain has also recently pledged further support to Macmillan, by promoting the charity’s first state of the nation report, which reveals that tens of thousands of UK cancer patients are diagnosed too late, shown a lack of compassion, or denied a ‘good’ death. The report sets out a series of recommendations to improve the lives and care of people affected by cancer in the UK, which Saint-Gobain will help raise awareness of.

Saint-Gobain Building Distribution businesses in the UK and Ireland developed the ‘together’ programme in 2002. Since then, it has worked with a number of charities including The British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK and Barnardo’s, raising £2.3m.

Richard Halderthay, director of communications for the UK, Ireland & South Africa, said: “This is a great start to our ‘together’ charity programme and I’m thrilled that we will be able to make a difference to the lives of people living with cancer and their relatives, as well as bringing awareness to a wider scope of people, including our suppliers, customers and staff about the vital work that these charities do.

“Last year, Saint-Gobain’s 16,750 employees voted online for their 2014/2015 charity partner. We have since heard stories about how Macmillan Cancer Support and the Irish Cancer Society have directly provided vital care for some of our employees and their families, highlighting the important work the organisations do to ensure that no one faces cancer alone.

“So many of our enthusiastic employees have made great fundraising efforts. One brave Pasquill employee raised £750 by shaving his hair into a Mohican and dyeing it green! I am confident that we will be seeing more fantastic fundraising across our businesses over the rest of the year.”

For more information on Saint-Gobain’s ‘together’ programme, visit www.saint-gobain.co.uk/about-us/together-charity-programme.aspx.